No One Cares What Your Bumper Sticker Says

I was on the road the other day, and stuck behind one of those annoying people who drive 20 miles under the speed limit and pay no attention to the existence of other cars. This lasted for several minutes, in which time I was able to read the vehicle’s bumper sticker referencing a Bible verse. I frowned, and decided it was time to pass the person. As I was doing so, I noticed that there was a large banner stuck to the car door. It read thusly,

“Jesus came to the world as predicted by scripture” or something to the like, and there was a verse from Isiah listed.

Now, it wasn’t advertisement for a church or something, because there was no church name at all, not even the obnoxious “Harvest; Greg Laurie” one sees plastered on mini-vans. Since there is no advertisement taking place, one can only assume that the drivers of the vehicle voluntarily decorated their vehicle with such quotations, for reasons that remain wholly mysterious.

They can’t possibly think that any straight-forward statement will induce a non-believer into instant conversion. When I have time at my disposal, I find Christianity challenging to explain and take great effort and argumentative force to defend it in open debate. How much much less effective is a single line on a car in passing! No, such a belief is childish. That can’t be it.

Maybe it is not intended for others, but for the self? Maybe it is a declaration of the driver’s belief, and helps that person to not be ashamed of Christ. Maybe it is done with the whole “deny me before men and I will deny you before my father in heaven” idea in mind. Well, this doesn’t really work either. God can’t possibly care what’s on your car, any more than he cares what color your skin is. Material concerns, as we have seen all throughout the New Testament, are not really of interest to him.

Where does that leave us? The driver’s faith must be weak, we conclude, because it requires some sort of material object as a constant reminder. How degrading to the immortal soul and the entire realm of the metaphysical!

But that is a small irritation. The big-picture problem is the image it creates of Christians, namely, as insecure, annoying people who shove their beliefs down other people’s throats in an effort to convince themselves of the ideological system they put forth.

I’ve talked to Christians who act like saying John 3:16 to an atheist will instantly convert them. It’s one thing to memorize a verse and regurgitate it, but to know it, to understand it, is quite another. Kierkegaard puts it nicely:

“There were countless generations which knew, by rote, word for word, the story of Abraham, – how many were made sleepless by it?”

That is exactly the point. The excerpt is from Kierkegaard’s work, Fear and Trembling, which shows how seriously he took theological matters, a seriousness that is severely lacking in the modern world.

How childish is it to post bulletins about Christianity? Ignoring whatever cynical remarks might be made, religion is not (or rather, should not be) a company, and Christ is not another brand name that has to be advertised. To choose to be a Christian is a monumental philosophical and personal decision and definitely not analogous to a toothpaste brand.

For all of you Christians out there who think that evangelizing means being annoying, please stop.

And to the rest of you, please remember, they don’t represent us. A real Christian doesn’t care what your bumper sticker says, and neither does God.

13 Responses

Very well put. As a non-Christian, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Christianity. What I don’t have respect for is “Bumper-Sticker Christianity” and “Bumper Sticker Christians.”

Possibly, they are slightly less annoying than the You Tube Christians, who try to disprove evolution, prove that Islam is a Satanic Cult, and Heaven knows what else through making videos of themselves citing John 3:16.

i agree with what you said about that stuff not working in conversion. I am an atheist (i was christian for 22 years prior), and the only way I will likely ever be christian again,is if I am AWAY from christians–all types. Christians just assume all they do about non-christians, to divide and protect themselves from the scary spectre of doubt. I applaud your breaking away from the conversionary christians–and i am curious to see how you retain your faith!

When you die, where are you going to end up at – heaven or hell?
I know what it’s like not to do it God’s way, to be in the world doing my own way. I was struggling with everything. I had a son who rebelled against me and ended up in prison because he wouldn’t listen to me. He thought he was right and I didn’t know any better.
In the book of Revelations, God is still trying to get people to repent and turn away from their wicked ways. Don’t you you feel at times like you are still missing something, like not everything is right. Don’t you see God around you, see all of his marvelous creations in nature. I refuse to believe I came some monkey or whatever animal science is saying people came from, or that the world was created from the big bang. Who created whatever caused the big bang in the first? Even Einstien believed in God. Putting bumper stickers is another form of telling how much God loves you if you only believe in Jesus, ask him to come into your life, God will bless you if only you truly believe in Jesus as his son. May the Lord bless you anyhow.

Dora,
Thank you for commenting on my entry, but in the future, I would appreciate it if you actually read my entires before you posted. If you had, you would have realized that I am in fact a Christian, and that you did not need to spend the majority of your post trying to convince me of things I already believe in.
Since you seem a bit confused, allow me to simplify things:

There are only three reasons I can conceive of for why someone would put evangelizing propaganda on one’s car: for others, for God, or for yourself.
1) For others; As I have shown, Christianity is a personal commitment, and a relationship with Christ is by nature a personal one. Someone has to convert of their own free will, and not because of any sort of evangelic pressure.
2) For God; God doesn’t care. Like I said, as we saw ALL throughout the New Testament, material and external things were of NO SIGNIFICANCE to him. If he judged by what was on your car, he might as well judge by the color of your skin.
3) For yourself; Again, Christianity is a PERSONAL commitment, and needs to come from within YOU, not from without. If I plaster myself with religious stickers, if I tattoo John 3:16 on my back, for God’s sake, “but have not love” then I am nothing.
It all has to come from WITHIN.
Shall I bust out Corinthians for you?

So if you have something real to contribute, please feel free to post further. But first, I’d recommend you give my blog another reading.

it might, quite possibly, in someone’s shattered life and existence, make them stop to think about God instead of being wrapped up in their problems. when we fail, is when we fail to speak about God at all. loving someone to death isn’t going to do anything if it isn’t shared with truth. if you do have a bumper sticker about Jesus, i pray you do your best to represent Him. God is blessed by any way we are endeavoring to serve Him, and if it is serving Him with a bumper sticker, as one aspect of many things, so be it! you shouldn’t be putting down your brothers and sisters in Christ and their love for God for the sake of one angry atheist. who’s side are you on? in all your wisdom, the Word says, “But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise… so that no one may boast before Him.” 1 Corin. 1:27-29 i will gladly continue to display my bumper stickers, (even though i guess my faith is weak, unlike yours which is so strong and educated) my love for God, and my love for man, without any of man’s wisdom to stand in the way!… so, preaching or any sort of evangelism is “evangelic pressure?” that makes no sense! let’s just say nothing, and just hope people get saved. yep, that’s what they did in the Bible! and i am still wondering whose side you are really on….

That’s funny. Since when was advertising ineffective? I am sure you have fallen victim at one point or another and bought something that you only glanced at once, but the ad made you think about it. So I believe they are effective, so much so that it irritated you enough to blog about it. Just because you don’t like what they say doesn’t mean they don’t work. I will even admit my own distaste towards stickers and symbols when they seem to become common place, but I was never under the impression that they were a replacement for an actual account of faith or testimony. I always figured it was more of a show of numbers, which then in turn does get people’s attention. This is just another thing to argue about, when in reality a vast majority of people are simply putting these stickers on to show how they themselves feel about a particular subject. To say bulletin posting about Christianity is childish, and then make one about Christianity bumper stickers is kind of slapping yourself in the face. I’m all against false advertising, but come on! Maybe you should make an Anti-Bumper Sticker bumper sticker, and move on with your life.

What’s wrong with Christian’s being proud of what they believe, being proud of their Lord Savior, Jesus Christ? Just because we might have a sticker on our car doesn’t mean we are trying to shove our beliefs down anyone’s throat. You never know who you might touch by simply having that sticker on your car. It may seem a bit extreme, but say I got in front of a woman who was thinking about ending her life or doing something crazy because for some reason, she felt like she had no one and there was nothing worth living for and I just happened to have a sticker on my car that reminded her. To you, since you are so anti-Christianity stickers (which I don’t understand since you say you are a Christian) that might sound absolutely ridiculous but to us who are loud and proud and will tell the world about our faith from the mountain tops, it’s most certainly a possibility. God is everywhere and people who don’t believe or don’t like it should just get over it because we have the right to express ourselves. Everyone…even atheists and other religions, just because they believe it doesn’t mean we have to. I’ve seen plenty of bumper stickers amongst other things that I did not like, but I didn’t go home and write a blog about it, in fact, I can’t even remember them, I just know I’ve seen them. I don’t understand why as a Christian, you despise them so much. Your reasoning does not make sense to me. Does that mean you don’t like looking at money? Because it’s written on our money as well. You are being very judgmental of people who have the same beliefs as you, you say. Is it just Christian stickers you despise so much, or all? I gather that you don’t like any bumper stickers but you specifically seem to hate Christian stickers. What about those bumper stickers that have an acronym of an area you are from, you know, those white oval stickers. What about ones that show what sports team is your fave? What is the difference? Any kind of “advertising” is technically “shoving” their beliefs down your throat, right? Here’s an idea, why don’t you get a bumper sticker that says “I hate Christian bumper stickers” and slap that on your car. I have a sticker, a small simple sticker that just says 3:16 on it, nothing else…that’s not shoving anything down anyone’s throat, and I have the Christian fish and I am proud of them and I’m not in anyway insecure about my faith. I’m sorry, but I think that you are the one that is insecure and seeing others that ARE secure with their faith makes you realize it even more. If you are truly a Christian, speaking with your Pastor if you have one or simply doing some reading out of the good Book will really do you some good. God Bless!

Thank you for bringing up this argumentative blog. Honestly i think Dora is right as in, by pasting stickers in some one’s car, it may also serve as a sign language indicating the owner has a clear conscience that God has a greatest authority over him and thus he wants to make clear even to others that they should also have the same in mind. And because he is not sure of what others may think or how they are going to respond, he chose to pass his message in that form, for those interested to do something since its a personal decision without forcing anyone to accept or refuse. More so he has chosen to use a variety for he is clearly aware that people are widely informed about Christianity and salvation but all in all not everyone knows everything. So what am trying to say is that in as much as God is not interested in the stickers, God is interested in how many souls you have converted or saved. I therefore agree with the idea of stickers for it is just one way of preaching the gospel for not everybody has a gift of preaching in the church or crusades.

Another reason someone might put up a Christian bumper stick is the same reason a dog lover might put up one: For all the other people who like what you like. I love seeing Christian bumper sticks – they refresh me and give me an extra boost to go through the day. Just seeing “Jesus loves you” Reminds me and helps me get through this world which teaches you to hate.

Another reason is the same of how we put up election signs – once you see it you might remember it. Maybe someone is drifting from the faith and see a bumper sticker that has a verse on it and it brings them one step closer back to their loving father.

Just ’cause someone has a christian bumper sticker doesn’t mean they are out on a mission to save millions through bumper stickers. Maybe they see it as a change to share the love and hope they just received. After all, many christians are willing to die for what they believe (and many have) so why not put on a bumper sticker?